How to Contact Brands for YouTube Sponsorships (+ Email Templates)

Most creators sit around waiting for brands to find them. They optimize their channel, post consistently, and hope that some marketing manager stumbles across their content and reaches out.

That works eventually. But it takes forever. And you end up at the mercy of whatever brands happen to notice you, instead of choosing the ones that actually fit your audience.

Cold outreach flips that dynamic. You pick the brands you want, find the right person, and send a pitch that makes it easy for them to say yes. And it works far more often than most creators think.

This guide walks you through the entire process: finding the right contact at a brand, writing the email, following up, and turning a cold pitch into an ongoing partnership. I have included email templates you can steal and adapt.

Why cold outreach works (better than you think)

Here is the thing most creators do not realize: brands want to hear from you.

According to Influencer Marketing Hub's 2025 benchmark report, 60.4% of brands manage influencer campaigns in-house rather than through agencies. That means the person deciding which creators to sponsor is sitting at a desk inside the company, probably with a quota to fill and a list of creators to find.

When you cold email them, you are not interrupting their day. You are doing their job for them. They are actively looking for creators who match their audience, and your pitch lands in their inbox ready to evaluate.

The math is straightforward. If you send 20 well-targeted pitches and 3 respond, that is a 15% reply rate. One of those converts into a deal, and you have a sponsorship you would never have gotten by waiting around. Compare that to sitting in a creator marketplace where you are one of 10,000 names on a list.

Step 1: Find the right person at the brand

This is where 90% of creators fail. They find a generic “partnerships@company.com” address, send their pitch into the void, and hear nothing back. That email goes to a shared inbox that nobody checks.

You need to find the actual human who makes sponsorship decisions. At most brands, that person has one of these titles:

• Influencer Marketing Manager — This is the most common title and the person most likely to have budget authority for YouTube sponsorships.
• Creator Partnerships Manager — A newer title, but increasingly common at brands that invest heavily in creator marketing.
• Head of Influencer Marketing — More senior. If you are pitching a larger deal or a long-term partnership, this is your person.
• Brand Marketing Manager — At smaller companies that do not have a dedicated influencer team, brand marketing often handles sponsorships.
• Social Media Manager — At small brands (under 50 employees), the social media person often manages influencer relationships too.

The “Influencer Marketing Manager” title is your best starting point. This is the person who decides which creators to work with, negotiates rates, and manages campaigns. If a brand has someone with this title, email them first.

Where to find contact information

LinkedIn is the obvious starting point. Search for the brand name plus “influencer marketing” and you will usually find the right person within a few minutes. Most profiles list their work email or at least enough information to figure out the company's email format.

But manually searching LinkedIn for every brand is slow. That is where a tool like SponsorRadar helps. Our brand database tracks 50,000+ brands that actively sponsor YouTube creators, with contact details and sponsorship history you can use to personalize your pitch.

Instead of guessing which brands might be interested in sponsorships, you can see which ones are already spending money on YouTube creators in your niche.

Step 2: Research the brand before you pitch

Do not pitch blind. Spend 10 minutes researching the brand before you write the email. This is what separates a pitch that gets a reply from one that gets deleted.

Here is what to look for:

• Which creators they have sponsored before. Check their recent sponsorships on SponsorRadar or look for “#ad” and “#sponsored” tags on YouTube. If they sponsor creators in your niche, that is a strong signal.
• What their product does and who it is for. Understand their target customer. If your audience overlaps with their customer base, say that in your email.
• Their campaign style. Some brands want a 60-second dedicated segment. Others prefer integrations. Some want Shorts. Know what they typically ask for.
• Recent news or launches. If the brand just launched a new product or feature, mention it. It shows you actually pay attention.

Brands like NordVPN, Squarespace, and HelloFresh sponsor hundreds of creators. If you are pitching a high-volume sponsor like one of these, your pitch needs to stand out because they are getting dozens of emails every day.

Mid-tier brands that sponsor 10-50 creators are often a better target for cold outreach. They are actively investing in YouTube but are not yet drowning in pitches. Brands like Surfshark, Factor, or Manscaped tend to be more responsive to direct pitches because their influencer teams are smaller and more hands-on.

Step 3: Write a pitch email that actually gets read

Your pitch email should be 150-250 words. That is it. Influencer marketing managers are busy, and long emails get skimmed or skipped entirely.

The best sponsorship pitch emails follow a simple four-section structure:

Section 1: The hook (1-2 sentences)

Lead with something specific about the brand. Reference a recent campaign, a product you actually use, or a reason their product fits your audience. This is not the place to talk about yourself.

Good: “I noticed [Brand] recently sponsored [Creator Name]'s video on [topic]. My audience is very similar, and I had an idea for a different angle that could work well.”

Bad: “Hi, I'm a YouTuber with 50K subscribers and I'm looking for sponsorships.”

Section 2: Social proof (2-3 sentences)

Now talk about yourself, but make it about results. Include your subscriber count, average views, and any relevant engagement metrics. If you have worked with other brands, mention them.

Lead with your strongest metric. If your views are high relative to your subscriber count, lead with views. If you have incredible engagement, lead with that.

Section 3: The pitch (2-3 sentences)

Tell them specifically what you are proposing. A dedicated video? An integration? A series? Be concrete. “I would love to work together” is vague and easy to ignore. “I am planning a video on [topic] next month and think a 60-second integration for [product] would be a natural fit” gives them something specific to respond to.

Section 4: The ask (1-2 sentences)

End with a clear, low-commitment ask. Do not ask them to sign a contract. Ask for a quick call or invite them to request your media kit.

Here is a full template putting it all together:

Notice the length: under 200 words. Every sentence does work. There is no filler. For more templates and variations, check out our sponsorship email template guide.

Subject line tips

Your subject line determines whether the email gets opened. Keep it short, specific, and professional. Avoid clickbait or anything that sounds like a mass email.

• “[Brand] x [Your Channel] — YouTube integration idea” — Works because it is specific and implies a concrete proposal.
• “Quick question about [Brand]'s creator partnerships” — Works because it is short and curiosity-driven.
• “[Your Channel]: [X]K views/mo, [niche] audience” — Works when your numbers are strong enough to lead with.

Avoid: “Sponsorship inquiry,” “Collaboration opportunity,” or anything that reads like a form letter.

Step 4: Time your outreach

When you send the email matters more than most creators think. Studies consistently show that B2B emails sent Tuesday through Thursday between 10am and 2pm in the recipient's time zone get significantly higher open rates.

Avoid Mondays (inbox overload from the weekend) and Fridays (people are mentally checked out). And never send on weekends. It signals that you are not professional.

If you are targeting a brand in a different time zone, schedule your email to arrive during their business hours, not yours.

Step 5: Follow up (this is where the deal happens)

Most sponsorship deals do not close on the first email. They close on the follow-up. I cannot stress this enough: if you are not following up, you are leaving money on the table.

Here is the follow-up cadence that works:

• Follow-up 1 (Day 3-4): Short bump. “Just wanted to make sure this did not get buried. Would love to chat about a potential collaboration.”
• Follow-up 2 (Day 7-8): Add new value. Share a recent video that performed well, or mention a relevant audience stat you did not include in the original pitch.
• Follow-up 3 (Day 14): Reference a trigger event. “I saw [Brand] just launched [product/feature]. I have a video planned on [related topic] that could be a great fit for an integration.”
• Follow-up 4 (Day 21): The graceful close. “I know things get busy. If the timing is not right, no worries at all. I will keep creating content in [niche] and would love to revisit this down the line.”

That is 3-4 follow-ups spread over 21 days. Each one adds something new instead of just repeating “checking in.” Most creators give up after one follow-up, which means the creators who persist have a massive advantage.

Step 6: Use SponsorRadar to scale your outreach

Doing this one brand at a time works, but it is slow. That is where SponsorRadar's brand database becomes a real advantage.

Instead of manually guessing which brands sponsor YouTube creators, you can filter by niche, see exactly which brands are spending money in your category, and find contact information for their influencer marketing teams.

Here is how I would use it for a batch outreach campaign:

1. Filter by your niche. Browse brands that are actively sponsoring creators in your content category.
2. Check sponsorship history. Prioritize brands that are currently running YouTube campaigns, not ones that tried it once and stopped.
3. Gather contact data. Use the contact information to find the right person instead of emailing a generic inbox.
4. Personalize each pitch. Reference specific creators the brand has worked with and explain why your channel is a good fit.
5. Track and follow up. Keep a simple spreadsheet: brand name, contact, date sent, follow-up dates.

Batching your outreach like this means you can send 15-20 personalized pitches in a single session instead of spending days doing one at a time.

Step 7: Turn one deal into a long-term partnership

The real money in YouTube sponsorships is not one-off deals. It is recurring partnerships where a brand books you for multiple videos across months or even years.

After your first sponsored video goes live, here is how to turn it into an ongoing relationship:

• Over-deliver on the first campaign. Hit your view estimates or beat them. Send the brand a performance recap without being asked. Include screenshots of positive comments about their product.
• Propose a multi-video package. After the first video performs, pitch a 3-video or 6-video package at a slight discount per video. Brands love predictability.
• Stay in touch between campaigns. Send them a quick note when you hit a subscriber milestone or when a sponsored video outperforms expectations. Keep the relationship warm.
• Ask for referrals. If the campaign went well, ask your contact if they know anyone at other brands who might be looking for creators. Influencer marketing is a small world, and warm introductions close faster than cold emails.

Long-term partnerships are also easier to negotiate higher rates on. Once a brand sees consistent results from working with you, the conversation shifts from “can we afford this creator” to “how do we keep this creator.”

Common mistakes that kill your pitch

Before you hit send, make sure you are not making any of these:

• Emailing the wrong person. Sending your pitch to customer support or a general inbox is a waste of your time. Find the influencer marketing contact.
• Writing a novel. Keep it to 150-250 words. If your pitch email requires scrolling, it is too long.
• Leading with yourself. The first sentence should be about the brand, not about you. Brands do not care about your subscriber count until they know you understand their product.
• Being vague. “I would love to collaborate” means nothing. Propose something specific.
• Asking for rates in the first email. The goal of your first email is to start a conversation, not negotiate a deal. Money talk comes later.
• Not following up. One email is not outreach. It is a shot in the dark. Follow up 3-4 times over 21 days.

What to do right now

Here is your action plan for this week:

1. Pick 10 brands in your niche using the SponsorRadar brand database.
2. Find the influencer marketing manager or creator partnerships contact at each one.
3. Spend 10 minutes researching each brand (recent campaigns, products, audience overlap).
4. Write 10 personalized pitches using the template above. Keep each one under 250 words.
5. Send them Tuesday through Thursday between 10am and 2pm.
6. Follow up 3-4 times over the next 21 days using the cadence above.
7. Prepare your media kit so it is ready to send the moment someone replies.

If you do this consistently, you will have sponsorship conversations happening within weeks. Not months, not “someday.” Weeks.

The creators who are landing the best sponsorship deals are not the ones with the most subscribers. They are the ones who take the initiative, reach out to the right people, and follow up until they get a response.

Cold outreach is not glamorous. But it works. And now you know exactly how to do it.